TEACHING BOYS AND GIRLS 

LB HOW TO STUDY 

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P. J. ZIMMERS 




Class 
Book.. 



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Copyriglit}^^. 



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COFSHRIGHT DEPOSffi 



Teaching Boys and Girls 
How to Study 



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Being a brief treatment of the training of pupils 

in right habits of ^udy through the 

problem method of 

teaching 



D 



p. J. ZIMMERS, A. M. 

SUPERINTENDENT OF CITY SCHOOLS 

MANITOWOC, WIS. 



The Parker Educational Co. 

Publishers 
Madison, Wisconsin 



"To me the end of education for the classroom is 
more and more clear. It should be straight thinking. 
The power to think clearly and straight comes from 
proi)er training. It is most successful when that 
training is obtained through self-help, which underlies 
the best work." — S. C. Armstrong, Hampton Institute. 



JUL 10 1918 



Copyright 1918 
By P. J. Zimmers 

THIRD EDITION 



OGLA5020J0 

"MO / 



INTRODUCTION 

^^^HE article by Mr. Zimmers of Manitowoc 
V^V seems well worth putting in more available 
form than that in which it was first printed. I 
think no one will resent the statement that with 
some notable exceptions superintendents and prin- 
cipals, not only in Wisconsin but everywhere, have 
been falling far short of 100 per cent efficiency in 
the matter of supervision of grade w^ork. The diffi- 
culty has been that most superintendents and prin- 
cipals have not been trained for it and do not know 
how to supervise, and not knowing how to super- 
vise elementary work, and not being exactly willing 
to admit to themselves that such was the case, it is 
an easy matter to come to the conclusion that they 
do not have time to do it. Such is the subtlety of 
the human mind; such the manner in which we 
deceive ourselves. 

I welcome and wish to encourage everywhere the 
attempt at real supervision, and it matters little by 
what route one travels in arriving at the goal. 

Mr. Zimmers gets his inspiration from Mc- 
Murrv% Earhart, Strayer, and others. This is a 
splendid source of inspiration. Mr. Zimmers finds 



that efficiency in the classroom in his schools has 
been greatly increased by the efforts of himself 
and his corps of teachers, through a persistent and 
intelligent effort to secure greater self-activity on 
the part of pupils and less (in the class hour) on 
the part of teachers. He believes, and I am confi- 
dent that he is right about it, that the pupils of 
the Manitowoc schools now organize their knowl- 
edge better, that they develop more initiative, and 
that the results upon the whole are much better 
than in the past. 

There is no doubt in my mind that the teachers 
in the schools of Wisconsin are working conscien- 
tiously and earnestly for the welfare and progress 
of their pupils; they are doing the best they can 
under the present order of things. There is little 
doubt in my mind, however, that they are falling 
below a possible standard of efficiency by at least 
25 per cent. I could easily name many sorts of 
hindrance to the best results, but probably the 
chief one is the attempt to accomplish more than 
children's minds can properly assimilate. The re- 
sult is a stuffing process, a memorizing process, in 
which teachers work at feverish heat to drive home 
the instruction. 

The next important step in the progress of our 
city schools is the application of scientific (stand- 



ardized) tests, so that superintendents may be 
able to form an accurate judgment as to the actual 
progress made in the classroom. It will be noted 
that Mr. Zimmers has applied some of these tests. 
I have no doubt Mr. Zimmers' article here re- 
printed will prove helpful to many. 




State Superintendent. 
Madison, Wis., January, 1917. 



TEACHING BOYS AND GIELS 
HOW TO STUDY 

The Schools Still Defective 

T^-TLTHOITGH the public schools are better and 
irl more efficient than they have ever been in 
thSThistorv, there is general dissatisfaction with 
them From all sides shafts of criticism are 
hurled at them for their failure to do thorough 
work in the fundamentals and to tram pupils m 
proper habits of study. 

Eecent surveys of the school systems m Mew 
York City; Butte, Montana; Portland, Oregon, 
and Cleveland, Ohio, indicate that the teachmg m 
general is mediocre; that the teacher does far too 
much of the work, and that the pupils are trained 
to dependence and inactivity rather than to inde- 
pendence and self -activity. 

The investigation of the habits of study of thou- 
sands of school children in the United States made 
by Lida B. Earhart clearly shows that the schools 
are not training pupils in right methods of study, 
thus failing in one of their most fundamental pur- 
poses. , 
The Courtis tests, given so widely in the schools 



of the United States, show the effort made to 
measure in a definite way the character of the pu- 
pils' activity. The results of these tests were an 
eye-opener to superintendents, principals, and 
teachers, as pupils were found to be slow and in- 
accurate. 



A SELF-SURVEY OF THE MANITOWOC 
METHODS 

These widespread criticisms, so insistent and 
general, coming as they have from school officials 
and laymen, finally influenced this study of the 
underlying causes which prompted them. 

In this study it was the good fortune of the 
writer to work under a teacher who presented an 
entirely new viewpoint in regard to school work, 
and it was due to his influence that this research 
work in the Manitowoc schools was undertaken. 
Whatever growth he has made, whatever help and 
inspiration have been given to the teachers, what- 
ever development the pupils have attained, not 
only mentally but also morally, through this new 
method of conducting class work, is largely due to 
the inspiration of this great teacher. 

Incidentally it may be said that school condi- 
tions in Manitowoc were good, the teaching was 
average, there was a very good corps of teachers 
and splendid co-operation, and results attained 
here could be duplicated in any city. 

In the first place, before attempting any radical 
changes in the methods of teaching, an investiga- 
tion was made of the teaching in the city schools 
,nd it was found that while in some cases the work 
was exceptional, in a general way subjects were 



being handled as they had been for years previous. 
The teachers were doing most of the work, and the 
pupils were not doing the kind of work, either in 
preparing their lessons or in reciting, that would 
develop right habits of study. Out of a large num- 
ber of recitations which were heard, three have 
been chosen — one in geography, one in arithmetic, 
and one in language — which bring out very forci- 
bly the kind of work that was being done. It 
might be said here that a casual visitor would not 
see these conditions, as the first recitation cited 
clearly shows. 

Observation of a Geography Class 

October 13, 1912, a fifth grade class in geog- 
raphy reciting on the chapter The Countries of 
North America was visited. The pupils appeared 
to be doing good work; they were interested and 
asked one another questions which were well an- 
swered. 

The next day observation was again made of the 
geography work in this grade. During these two 
recitations the pupils finished the chapter, which 
was brief and easy. At the close of the second 
recitation this question was put to the class*. 
"What is the important thing in this chapter ? In 

10 



other words, what is there in this chapter worth 
remembering?'' One pupil said the important 
thing was the discovery of America. This fact 
was incidentally mentioned in the chapter, but was 
of very minor importance. Another thought the 
Kevolutionary War was the important thing. This 
was also mentioned, but was of little importance. 
A third said the important thing was Eussia sell- 
ing Alaska to the United States, which also oc- 
curred in the chapter, but was not vital. Finally 
the pupils were asked to open their books, to do 
anything they chose in order to state the important 
thing in the^ chapter. One pupil finally said that 
the important thing was "the countries of North 
America.-' A boy was asked to step to a map, to 
name and point to the countries of North America. 
He named Alaska, Canada, the United States, the 
Mississippi Valley, and the Rocky Mountains. 

Here was a class that had spent two days on a 
simple chapter in geography, had mechanically 
memorized everything in it without thought, had 
completed the work, but had failed to get the im- 
portant thing— they could not name the countries 
of North America, which was perhaps the only 
thing worth remembering. In other words, they 
did not know how to study, and the character of 
this class work did not require them to study. 



11 



The work done these two days may be analyzed 
more definitely as follows : 

Teacher activity 70% 

Pupil activity 30% 

Number of questions (estimated) 108 

Memory questions (estimated) 102 

Organization by pupils 

Consideration of relative values by pu- 
pils 

Pupil initiative Fair 

Aim of lesson Knowledge 

Accomplishment of aim Poor 

A lianguage Class 

Another concrete example of class period inef- 
ficiency was a sixth grade in language dealing with 
the irregular verbs lie and Jay. The pupils learned 
and recited the principal parts of these verbs and 
then filled out the blank sentences in the text-book 
with the proper forms. The next day the pupils 
were tested on their knowledge of these same 
verbs in specific situations. A book was placed on 
the desk and the question asked : "What have I 
done with the book?^' Twenty out of thirty-six 
pupils said, "You have laid the book on the desk/' 
and sixteen said, "You have lain the book on the 
desk." Then this question was asked: "Suppose 

12 



the book has been on the desk two hours ; how 
would 3^ou express it?" Twenty-two said, "The 
book has been lying on the desk two hours," and 
fourteen said, '^The book has been laying on the 
desk two hours." This showed ineffective teach- 
ing, because after computing the study of these 
verbs the pupils were unable to use them correctly 
in definite situations. This lang-uage period may 
be analyzed as follows : 

Teacher activity 60% 

Pupil activity 40% 

]S[umber of questions (estimated) 42 

Thought questions 2 

Memory questions 40 

Organization by pupils 

Pupil initiative Poor 

Aim of lesson Knowledge 

Accomplishment of aim Poor 



A Class in Arithmetic 

An opportunity came one morning to determine 
the habits of study of pupils in a seventh grade. 
The teacher of this grade had just announced that 
her pupils had covered thoroughly the subject of 
percentage. These simple questions were then put 
to the class, ample time being given for thought: 

What is 300% of $2? Only one gave the cor- 
rect result. 

What is %% of $16? Not one gave the cor- 
rect result. %% was confused with 121/0%. 

The pupils were asked to write the following 
per cents in a column as decimals, with the decimal 
points under one another as though adding: 25%; 
21/2%; 250%; 1/4%. Hardly a pupil could do 
this correctly. 

Here was a class which had finished percentage 
but did not know the FUlvTBAMENTALS of the 
subject. No one was more surprised than the 
teacher herself at the inability of these pupils to 
apply what they were supposed to know of per- 
centage. After a conference the teacher asked for 
a month in which to TEACH, the subject. At the 
end of that time another test was given and the 
results were truly surprising. 



14 



A Test in the Hygiene Class 

As a part of this investigation the following 
test* on the S3^stematic study of an ordinary lesson 
in hygiene was given to the pupils in the sixth, 
seventh and eighth grades : 

What is the subject of this lesson ? 

Write a list of the principal topics in it . 

What do you think is the most important thing 
in this lesson ? 

What are your reasons for thinking this so im- 
portant ? 

What other facts do you know about any of these 
topics ? 

What questions would you ask in regard to any- 
thing in this lesson that is not clear to you or that 
you would like to know more about? 

The following are the results of the test : 

Sixty-two per cent of the pupils found the most 
important thing in the lesson and sixty-five per 
cent found the list of principal topics. This sim- 
ple test again showed that the pupils were not 
being trained in proper habits of study. 



"Teaching- Children to Study." — Earhart, page 114. 

15 



AN EXAMINATION IN GEOGRAPHY IN BOSTON 

To show that the results just cited are quite gen- 
eral in the United States the following is quoted 
from Contemporar}' Ideals in Education, by E. C. 
Moore, in the October, 1916, issue of Educational 
Eeview : 

"An examination in geography was given in Bos- 
ton a little while ago to 593 eighth grade students, 
165 third year high school students and 87 normal 
school students. The list which was submitted to 
them was carefully prepared and included such 
questions on the geography of the United States 
as : Locate Xew York City on the map. Locate 
San Francisco on the map. Why do the states just 
east of the Eocky Mountains receive less rain than 
Massachusetts? Explain the way in which the 
flood plains of the Mississippi Eiver have been 
formed. Why are these flood plains good for agri- 
culture? And on the geography of Europe such 
questions as: Locate on the map two seaports of 
European Eussia. Why does England import large 
quantities of wheat? Why has Germany become 
very important as a manufacturing country ? Out 
of 845 pupils tested on the geography of Europe 
not a single pupil passed. In the test on the United 
States 8.7 per cent of the elementary school pupils, 
4.8 per cent of the high school students, and 1.1 

16 



per cent, or one, of the normal school pupils 



A few days after this test had been given a 
meeting was^ held to discuss these results and it 
was brought to light that about 10,000 facts were 
brought to the attention of a public school child m 
his study of geography each year. 



17 



CORRECTING THE ERRORS OBSERVED 
THROUGH TEACHERS' MEETINGS 

After this investigation of classroom work a 
series of eight general teachers' meetings was held, 
at which but one topic was discussed: Training 
pupils in habits of purpose, organization, initia- 
tive, independence, and self-activity — through the 
right conduct of the recitation or class period; in 
other words, training boys and girls in right habits 
of study. The following books were the basis of 
study: 

How to Study and Teaching How to Study, by 
F. M. McMurry. 

Teaching Children to Study, by Lida B. Ear- 
hart. 

A Brief Course in the Teaching Process, by 
George D. Strayer. 

The following are two typical lists of problems 
studied by teachers in advance and then discussed 
at these meetings, the responsibility being thrown 
upon the teachers : 



1. (a) Be prepared to give a two-minute talk 
on the value of specific purposes. 

(b) Name three recently used by you. 

2. If you were conducting this meeting what 

18 



would be your leading question on the chapter on 
Organization in McMurry ? 

3. Why is a class period in which the teacher 
asks sixty questions which test the pupils' knowl- 
edge of facts recorded in the book not very valu- 
able? 

4. Distinguish fully between "qualitative and 
quantitative thoroughness." 

5. (a) Explain definitely how the conduct of 
the class period determines largely the habits of 
study of pupils. 

(b) What is the purpose of most class periods? 

6. Give five questions which will aid pupils to 
CTow in self-reliance and initiative. 



& 



B 

1. State one thing you are now doing in your 
class work which you did not do before your study 
of McMurry. In other words, what have you ap- 
plied to your own class work ? 

2. Should methods of study have precedence 
over the other aims of the school, even over the 
acquisition of knowledge? 

3. What is the effect of teaching pupils to study 
properly : 

(a) On the crowded curriculum? 

(b) On the pupil? 

19 



(c) On the teacher? 

(d) On the general spirit and discipline of 

the school? 

4. Discuss what seems to you the most valuable 
of the four divisions of The Basis for Judging 
Classroom Instruction. 

5. Memorizing: (a) What is the relation be- 
tween thinking and memorizing? 

(b) "Memorizing is a by-product of thinking 
instead of a substitute for it;" explain this state- 
ment fully ; 

(c) Give three suggestions for teaching pupils 
to memorize properly. 

6. Explain definitely the moral value of train- 
ing in overcoming intellectual difficulties. In 
other words, is there any relation between methods 
of instruction and moral development? 

In addition to these general meetings, in each 
building school was dismissed at recess in the aft- 
ernoon at least once a year and a demonstration 
recitation conducted by one of the best teachers in 
the building, showing how to develop right habits 
of study in pupils. This class period was then 
thoroughly discussed by the teachers of the build- 
ing and the strong points brought to light. If it 
had not been for these building meetings and 
classes taught before the teachers, this kind of 

20 



teaching could never have become so successful. 
The following is a typical list of questions dis- 
cussed at one of these meetings : 

1. Give one illustration connecting your school- 
room work with real life. 

2. (a) What is the fundamental weakness of 
the average recitation? 

(b) How should the customary recitation be 
modified ? 

3. *Elements of a good question : 
( 1 ) Stimulates reflection ; 

(3) Adapted to the experience of pupils; 

(3) Has "motor power" in drawing forth a 
complete thought. Discuss the above and give 
illustrations. 

4. What is the most significant thing to you 
in the chapter, The Using of Ideas as a Sixth 
Factor in Study? Why? 

5. (a) What is the most significant thing to 
you in the monograph, The Modernization of 
Arithmetic? Why? 

(b) What omissions in Arithmetic would you 
recommend ? 



*The Question as a Measure of Efficiency in Instruc- 
tion, by Romiett Stevens. 

21 



Near the close of the series of meetings the 
topic, '^Tlie Basis for Judging Classroom Iiistruc- 
tion, was taken up and thoroughly studied by all 
the teachers. x\t the last meeting the following 
was given to each teacher in typewritten form and 
thoroughly discussed, with the announcement that 
it was to serve as the basis for judging the class- 
room work of teachers : 

1. Purpose of the class period. 

2. Attention to relative values. 

3. Organization. 

4. Provision for developing initiative, inde- 
pendence, and self-activity in pupils. 

Establishing a Standard 

This standard serves two purposes: (1) as a 
basis for teachers in judging their own work; and 
(2) as a basis for supervisors in judging the work 
of the teachers. This standard is based on the 
activities of the PUPILS. The important thing 
is not what the teacher is doing but what the pu- 
pils are doing. The most common criticism of our 
school practice is that it does nothing but trans- 
mit facts; that it does not develop the ability 
to think. In the above standard '^the acquisition 
of knowledge is made subordinate to the develop- 



■See McMurry Standards. 

22 



nient in pupils of the power to work independently, 
intelligently, and economically." The schools 
should give a training for life that will fit the 
individual to do well the thing he undertakes, no 
matter what that thing may be. 

1. As the character of the class period deter- 
mines to a large extent the habits of study of 
pupils, it is logical to assume that a standard for 
judging it should have some relation to the fac- 
tors of study. If the class period calls simply for 
facts, then only memory work on the part of pu- 
pils is required. 

If, however, "the class period affords a fresh, 
sharp problem, the solution of which may be 
found in the lesson assigned for study, then it 
tests the pupils' ability to analyze and organize 
the subject matter of the book." They must then 
employ the factors of study, and memory work 
can not be made such a prominent factor. The 
first factor of study, then, is the recognition of 
a problem, purpose, or motive. All people, young 
or old, if they work effectively, must have an in- 
centive. 

We only think when we have a problem, the 
solution of which is worth while to us, is the 
purport of Dewey's work. This theory maintains 
that thinking ability is secured by having prob- 

23 



lems to think about and that thinking is tied up 
with the immediately useful. It places emphasis 
on the immediate end which Horace Mann advo- 
cated in 1842. 

As the first factor in study is the recognition 
of a problem, so the class period should also deal 
with a problem or purpose. The purpose of most 
class periods must be to teach pupils how to study 
through the right conduct of the class period. 

2. The class period should make provision for 
the appreciation of the relative value of things. 
This means the cultivation of good judgment, 
which is one of the most important abilities for 
pupils to acquire a successful living. Successful 
living means good selection, and good selection de- 
pends on good judgment. The class period should 
give ample opportunity for weighing values. If 
a teacher recognizes in primary reading that sym- 
bols are subordinate to thought, relative values 
have been considered. The two have been weighed, 
and the thought side has been decided on as the 
more important to the pupil. The purpose be- 
comes the basis for judging relative values. 

3. Organization insures thoroughness of com- 
prehension. It signifies getting the main points, 
together with the supporting details, with the 
elimination of unrelated and unimportant details. 

24 



To have organization, the class period must deal 
in large units and must avoid isolated things. 
Broad questions must be put to the pupils, not 
detailed questions which break up the thought. A 
class period in which the teacher asks sixt}' ques- 
tions which test the pupils' knowledge of facts re- 
corded in the book is not very valuable, because 
they depend on these questions as a crutch to help 
them along when they should be able to proceed 
by themselves. Pupils need to learn a subject 
thoroughly and to talk on topics without help from 
the teacher. This will cause them to organize the 
subject matter. Business men say that graduates 
of high schools and even of colleges can not take 
a letter and word the principal idea in a single 
sentence or two. One employer declares that it 
is almost impossible to find a secretar\' who can 
take two or three sentences of direction and com- 
pose a letter to embody it. It is clearly evident, 
therefore, that the schools should develop in pu- 
pils the practical ability of selecting the main 
point and distinguishing it from unimportant de- 
tails. 

"Teach half as much and teach it twice as well. 
It has the same effect as picking off half the 
fruit of a laden tree." 

4. One of the most important functions of 

25 



the class period is the development of initiative and 
self-reliance in pupils. These qualities are funda- 
mental, not only in proper study, but they lie 
at the very basis of a democracy such as ours, and 
it is important that the school make provision 
for their development. In these days of hysteria 
it is essential that the future citizen be trained 
to stand on his own feet and to think for him- 
self. This nation is safe for democracy only when 
it is composed of citizens who are trained to think 
independently and intelligently, to place evidence 
above mere opinion, to sift the false from the gen- 
uine, to verify conclusions which may appear to 
be sound and yet prove to be disastrous. This 
is the training which will eventually drive out the 
boss, the demagogue and the quack. Under this 
method of instruction, the school becomes an effi- 
cient, miniature democracy in which full and frank 
discussion by the pupils leads to the truth. 

The boys and girls of our schools constitute the 
source from which a thinking citizenship of this 
character must be developed. 

The ordinary man never trains himself to make 
a move unless some one tells him to do so. The 
advancement of successful men from position to 
position is due largely to this faculty of doing 
things without being told. Successful men have 

26 



the nerve and decision to act quickly and assume 
the initiative in times of emergency. Men who are 
most in demand are the ones who can stand up 
under responsibility and can be counted on to do 
the right thing without depending on somebody 
else. 

How is initiative developed? Certainly not by 
having the teacher take all the initiative and re- 
sponsibility in the conduct of the class period. To 
DEVELOP initiative, the pupils must EXER- 
CISE initiative, and the class period must provide 
this opportunity. To secure this initiative, there 
must be a change in the conduct of the class period. 

(a) The teacher must become less prominent 
and the pupils more prominent. The teacher must 
contribute less and demand greater contributions 
from the class. In other words, the pupils are 
to do most of the thinking, planning, and execut- 
ing, while the teacher directs and stimulates. If 
the pupils are to do most of the work DUEING 
the class period the teacher must do most of the 
work BEFOEE the class period. One of the most 
valuable things a teacher can do to increase in 
teaching power is to prepare two or three thought 
questions for one or more class periods each day. 

Questions such as the following develop right 



habits of stud}^ by throwing the responsibility on 
the pnpils : 

What is the most important thing in the lesson ? 

What are your reasons for thinking this so im- 
portant ? 

Write a list of the principal topics in the lesson. 

Word the one principal thought of a page or 
lesson in a full sentence. 

What important question is answered in this 
paragraph ? 

What object do you see in studying this chapter? 

What bearing on life has it? 

How did you study this lesson? 

What interested you most? 

Does the point you are considering bear upon 
the subject we are discussing? 

Is it important enough to justify spending much 
time upon it? 

Are we through with the lesson? 

Why is Wisconsin the greatest dairy state in the 
Union ? 

Why is tobacco now grown intensively in the 
northern as well as in the southern states? 

Why do famines occur in India every few years ? 

Why is it important to you to use "isn't" in- 
stead of "aint?" 

For what trait is Columbus to be most admired ? 

28 



If you were a voter and a senator to succeed 
Paul 0. Husting was to be elected, how would you 
decide which of the candidates to vote for ? 

Why should the United States control the Pan- 
ama canal? 

(b) The aim of many class periods, especially 
in the lower grades, must be to teach pupils to 
master lessons in the teacher's presence, not pri- 
marily for knowledge but to learn how to study 
properly. Often the whole class with open books 
can profitably spend the time selecting the princi- 
pal points, giving reasons for thinking them so 
important ; and determining the underlying idea 
running all through the chapter. This kind of 
class period is an improvement on the mere reci- 
tation of text matter. Training in right habits of 
study is a pupil's greatest need and should, there- 
fore, be the principal aim of many class periods. 
Training develops, but filling pupils with facts 
deadens. The test of a class period is not how 
manv facts are learned, but is there growth, activ- 
ity, development? 

Of course, all class periods should not be con- 
ducted in the same wav. 



29 



OBSERVATION OF RESULTS AFTER TWO 
YEARS OF APPLICATION 

After this basis of judging classroom instruc- 
tion had been in operation two years the charac- 
ter of the class period was completely changed 
in most cases; where before we had the same old- 
fashioned recitation, now we found an entirely 
different atmosphere. The attitude not only of 
the pupils but also of the teachers and even of 
the supervisors was different. It is difficult to 
convey on paper any adequate conception of this 
marked improvement in classroom instruction, 
but it is easily discernible even to the casual 
visitor. 

As before, while any number of class periods 
could be enumerated to show this, three have chosen 
which most clearly show the kind of work being 
done at present. The results of ten average class 
periods have also been tabulated. (Table I.) 

October 22, 1915, a seventh grade class in geog- 
graphy discussed the topic Germany's Rapid Ad- 
vance under two heads: 

1. Nature of the advance. 

2. Eeasons for it. 

(1) The government. 

(2) Education. 

30 



In the thirty-five minute discussion of the sub- 
ject the teacher directed and stimulated the 
thought process of pupils, and talked not to ex- 
ceed four minutes. The pupils virtually assumed 
responsibility, in some cases a pupil speaking for 
two or three minutes, and to the point. Education 
was given the most consideration. One boy talked 
fully three minutes on the continuation schools 
of Germany, although this was not in the text 
book at all, showing that they were supplement- 
ing what was in the lesson. In this connection 
the continuation schools and physical education in 
Manitowoc were fully discussed, showing that pu- 
pils were putting their ideas to use. The dis- 
cussion waxed warm, the pupils talking directly 
to one another. Analysis of class period: 

Teacher activity 10% 

Pupil activity (estimated) 90% 

Number of questions by teacher 5 

Thought questions 4 

Memory questions 1 

Number of questions by pupils 30 

Organization by pupils Excellent 

Consideration of relative values by 

pupils Good 

Pupil initiative Excellent 

Aim of lesson — to develop in pupils 

31 



''the power to work independently, 
economically and intelligently." 

Accomplishment of aim Complete 

This teaching was on a high plane, because 
pupils were actually solving a problem which to 
t]:!em seemed worth while, and were thus being 
trained in right habits of study. Moreover, they 
were happy, active, and enthusiastic in this work, 
and as a result the discipline was splendid, there 
being neither time nor inclination for extraneous 
alfairs. 

Xovember 11, 1915, another seventh grade un- 
der another teacher was visited when there was 
a class period on the topic The Industries of Eng- 
land. The pupils divided this subject into five 
topics and assumed much of the responsibility. 
Analysis of this class period : 

Teacher activity 12% 

Pupil activity 88% 

Number of questions b}^ pupils (esti- 
mated) 40 

Thought questions (estimated) 24 

Memory questions 16 

Organization by pupils Excellent 

Consideration of relative values by 

pupils Good 

Pupil initiative Excellent 

32 



Aim of lesson — to develop in pupils 

"the power to work independently, 

intelligently and economically." 
Accomplishment of aim Complete 

In this same room the pupils gave work in oral 
arithmetic to their classmates which was on a par 
with the work usually done by teachers. 

However there was more life and virility be- 
cause the pupils themselves did the work. 

October 22, 1915, a third grade class in lan- 
guage was visited. The class period was devoted 
to the study, description, and naming of a pic- 
ture. The Two Mothers and Their Families, by 
Elizabeth Gardner. The general aim of the les- 
son was to interest pupils in good pictures and the 
special aim to teach them to tell stories from pic- 
tures. The picture was shown to the class, keep- 
ing the name concealed, and each pupil had an 
opportunity to study it. Then the question was 
asked: "What story have you to tell about what 
you have just seen?" There were eight stories 
told, several very good ones, stories that required 
thought. One of the best was as follows : 

"The mother is sitting by the cradle. There is a 
little baby in the cradle. A little girl about three 
years old is standing near her mother. The mother 
is talking and telling the little girl something. The 
little girl is pointing to a hen and her flock of chickens 

33 



that are very near the cradle. The mother is telling 
the little girl to be kind to the chickens, never to 
harm them ; to take good care of them, for they have 
as much right to live as we have, and the mother hen 
would feel just as sorry if something happened to her 
little chicks as her mother would if harm should come 
to the little one in the cradle. I think they are very 
poor, because the little girl does not seem to have much 
clothing." 

After all the stories had been given^ the ques- 
tion was asked: "Which story do you like the 
best, and why?^' i\.fter this discussion the teach- 
er asked the class to name the picture. After 
a short time one pupil gave the name The Two 
families. It was decided that the name given 
was a good one and the class preferred it to the 
one Elizabeth Gardner had given. The questions 
asked by this teacher in the third grade threw 
the responsibility on the pupils, causing them to 
organize the subject matter. The pupils showed 
by their faces and actions that there was life, en- 
thusiasm, happiness, and a fine spirit because they 
were doing something worth while. Analysis of 
the class period: 

Teacher activity 35% 

Pupil activity 65% 

Xumber of questions by teacher (es- 
timated) 22 

34 



Thought questions 1^ 

MemoT}^ questions 8 

N^umber of questions by pupils 10 

Organization by pupils Good 

Consideration of relative values by 

pupils Excellent 

Pupil initiative Excellent 



35 



Contrasting the Two Class Periods 

For the purpose of contrasting the two class 
periods on pages 12 and 31, the former will be 
designated "A" and the latter "B." 

In "B" the teacher activity was 10% and the 
pupil activity 90%. In the ordinary recitation 
these conditions are reversed, the teacher activity 
being about 90% and the pupil activity, 10%. 

Eomiett Stevens, of Teachers' College, Columbia 
University, investigated the relative teacher and 
pupil activity in twenty recitations and for this 
purpose twenty of the best teachers were selected. 
The twenty stenographic reports show that the 
average teacher activity was 64%, while the aver- 
age collective pupil activity was 36%. Divide 
36%, the average collective pupil activity, by 36, 
assuming that there are thirty-six pupils in the 
class, then 1% represents the average individual 
pupil activity while the teacher activity remains 
64%. These figures are very conservative. A su- 
perintendent of a large system of schools doubted 
the accuracy of these results. He made an investi- 
gation, believing that the class period activity of 
the teachers under his supervision was much less 
than 64% and found to his great surprise that 
his teachers were actually doing from 85 to 95% 

36 



of the work. It is safe to say that in the average 
recitation the teacher activity is fully 80%. 

In "B" the teacher asked only five questions of 
which four were thought questions. In "A" one 
hundred eight questions were asked by the teacher, 
of which one hundred two were memory questions. 
Miss Stevens also made an investigation of the 
average number of questions asked by the teacher 
during twenty recitations. The twenty steno- 
graphic reports show that the average number of 
questions asked by the teacher per recitation was 
one hundred five or about three every minute. Con- 
sidering the results obtained by Miss Stevens, how 
can pupils be trained to think independently, to 
exercise individual judgment, under this bombard- 
ment of questions fired at the rate of three a min- 
ute? 

What is the result? Verbal memorizing and 
superficial judgment. Even if the questions are 
answered, the answers will merely reflect the opin- 
ion of someone else, generally the author of the 
text-book; but unfortunately, in many cases, the 
teacher virtually answers her own questions by 
starting or completing the partial replies of pupils, 
or by tolerating short, incomplete sentences, phrases 
and often mere words, which not only defeats the 
purpose of study, but is the worst possible lan- 

37 



guage training. This practice even at its very 
best, makes of the pupils nothing more than intel- 
lectual butterflies. 

A good question stimulates reflection and dis- 
cussion, but questions shot at the ordinary rate 
give the pupils no time for assimilation or asso- 
ciation of ideas. 

It is now easy to see why class period "A" was 
a failure. The significant fact is that the teacher 
asked one hundred eight questions which called for 
unrelated facts. 

The number of questions by pupils in class "B" 
was thirty. This is significant in view of what 
F. E. Spaulding, now Superintendent of the 
Cleveland Schools, found in Portland when he 
made a survey of the quality of teaching. This 
is what he writes after a study of the teaching in 
fifty-nine rooms in nine different buildings: "Ex- 
cept in one exercise in all my visits to gi^ammar 
grade rooms, I heard not a single question asked 
by a pupil, not a single remark or comment made, 
to indicate that the pupil had any really vital in- 
terest in the subject matter of the exercise ; on not 
a single occasion was there interested disagree- 
ment and active discussion over any point to show 
that the pupils were thinking independently. The 
single exception to which reference is made oc- 

38 



curred in an exercise in physiology, in which sev- 
eral alert boys cited numerous cases within their 
knowledge — and with no little degree of success— 
to refute the teacher^s contention, unsupported by 
facts, that the use of tobacco shortens the life of 
the user." 

Why do not pupils in school ask questions ? Out- 
side of school, a person seeking information asks 
questions, but in the schoolroom the well informed 
teacher asks the questions, which seems rather an 
anomalous situation. At first pupils will ask irrele- 
vant and foolish questions, but this simply shows 
that they need this kind of training. It is al- 
ways a great surprise to teachers to see the rapid 
and marked improvement in the quality of the 
questions asked by pupils. 

It has been said that this takes time. Yes, 
training, development, growth, always take time. 
A fence can be built around a school in one day 
by a large force of men, but if a hedge is to be 
grown, it may require years. Mushrooms attain 
their full power in a night; oaks require decades. 
Eousseau, referring to the scientific method of 
thought in problems said, "May I venture to state 
here the greatest, the most important, the most 
useful rule in all education? It is not to gain 
time, but to lose it." 

39 



It is clearly evident, of course, that the teacher 
must always ask the vital, far reaching questions. 

In "B'^ the organization by pupils was excellent, 
while in "A" there was no organization. This 
means that in "A'^ the pupils regarded all the 
facts in the entire chapter as of equal importance 
and mechanically memorized every point, however 
small. In "B," they selected the four salient ideas, 
together with the details necessary to support these 
ideas, which means that their judgment was be- 
ing trained to select the essentials from the non- 
essentials. This kind of training is significant 
in view of what John Dewey, our greatest Amer- 
ican philosopher, writes in his Moral Principles 
in Education : "We must also test our school work 
by finding whether it affords the conditions neces- 
sary for the formation of good judgment. Judg- 
ment as the sense of relative values involves ability 
to select, to discriminate. Acquiring information 
can never develop the power of judgment. Devel- 
opment of judgment is in spite of, not because of, 
methods of instruction that emphasize simple 
learning. I have heard an educator of large ex- 
perience say that in her judgment the greatest de- 
fect of instruction today, on the intellectual side, 
is found in the fact that children leave school 
without a mental perspective. Facts seem to them 

40 



all of the same importance. There is no foreground 
or background. There is no instinctive habit of 
sorting out facts upon a scale of worth and of 
grading them. The child can not get power of 
judgment excepting as he is continually exercised 
in forming and testing judg-ments." 

The aim of "B'' was the training of pupils in 
right habits of study and as a result, they not only 
were trained, but they obtained the finest kind 
of organized knowledge. In ".V the aim was the 
acquisition of facts, and strange to say the pupils 
acquired neither essential facts nor training. It 
has recently been said that nine-tenths of the infor- 
mation acquired by pupils in school is forgotten, 
and only a portion of the remaining one-tenth is 
really digested in such a way as to be of any power. 
Of course, it is not expected that pupils will re- 
member everything they learn in school, but in 
view of the above statement is it not worth while 
to put training first? If the training is placed 
first, it means that fewer topics are taken up, and 
that more time is given to pupils for assimilation, 
thus precluding the giving of innumerable irrele- 
vant facts. 

After a comparison of the above two class pe- 
riods, this is a logical deduction,— the cliaracter of 
the instruction in the class period determines to 

41 



a large extent the habits of study of pupils. The 
way pupils study, depends on what is empha- 
sized. The methods that are best to develop 
a sound knowledge of geography in pupils, will, 
as a rule, be the best to teach them how to study 
geography. The reason that mechanical memoriz- 
ing is the main part of study in the elementary 
school, high school and university, is that repro- 
duction is the primary thing required. If boys 
and girls find that the teachers' questions asked 
for a reproduction of the text, they will memorize 
before thinking and without thinking. If, how^- 
ever, there is a thought question, it will cause 
them to organize and analyze the subject matter 
of the book, and then mechanical memorizing can 
not occupy such a prominent part. 

In addition to the investigation of the classroom 
work concrete tests were given to discover improve- 
ments in the habits of study of pupils. For in- 
stance, March 1, 1916, a test on the systematic 
study of an ordinary lesson was given to four hun- 
dred pupils in the sixth, seventh and eighth 
grades, with the result that this time 82% found 
the most important thing in the lesson and 85% 
found a list of the principal topics. 

When this same test was given to thousands of 
school children in various cities of the United 

42 



states by Miss Earhart a few years ago, only twen- 
ty-seven pupils out of every hundred found the 
most important thing in the lesson and only thirty- 
three out of every hundred made an adequate list 
of the principal topics, although the test was on 
a simple lesson in geography. 



43 



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EFFECTS OF THIS WORK 

This concerted action of all the teachers to 
train pupils in proper habits of study has had 
an effect: (1) on the pupils; (2) on the teacher; 
(3) on the course of study; (4) on the general 
spirit and discipline of the schools. 

(1) The character of this work engenders re- 
sponsibility and self-activity on the part of the 
pupils. They are doers. Instead of looking and 
listening they are planning, working, and exe- 
cuting, while the teacher directs and stimulates. 
They develop mental habits and mental and moral 
fibre instead of being filled with an enormous, 
crushing weight of useless facts, not more than 
one-fourth of which will be of any value to them 
later in life. This kind of work trains to thor- 
oughness, accuracy, and self discipline. It devel- 
ops good, strong character — one of the main pur- 
poses of education under a democracy. It means 
"a live pupil in a live school, learning to live by 
living each day in the school." 

(3) Under this plan of teaching, the pupils 
largely assume the responsibility for the conduct 
of the class work, thus supplying the steam. The 
teacher is no longer a taskmaster but a guide who 
stimulates and directs pupils in an enterprise in 

46 



which they have a common interest. The teach- 
ers say that the work is hard under this new plan, 
but that it is interesting, vitalizing, refreshing 
work that brings results. 

This type of instruction causes the teacher as 
well as the pupils to grow. It is clearly evident 
that the teacher's knowledge must be more com- 
prehensive in such a procedure than in the old 
type of recitation, for the reason that the dis- 
cussion in many instances goes beyond the limits 
of the text book. The teacher, therefore, must 
be more studious in order to have the auxiliary 
facts and to be able to cite authorities at the prop- 
er time. This causes a wider reading on the 
teacher's part than in the question and answer 
type of recitation. 

This type of instruction automatically removes 
the most grievous fault of teachers— the practice 
of repeating the answers given by pupils. When 
teacher and pupils discuss their problems together, 
every answer is addressed to the class, not to the 
teacher. 

(3) Much is said at present throughout the 
United States, and truthfully, that the course of 
study is overcrowded and that the fundamentals 
are neglected. The overcrowded course has come 
to stay and every generation will add to it. There 

47 



is but one remedy, and that is teaching boys and 
girls how to study. The teachers are trained to 
select the large, vital topics and the pupils are 
trained in the class period to select the basic, 
salient facts with the details necessary to support 
them and then to eliminate the rest. This trains 
their judgment to determine the essentials from 
the non-essentials. In these days of wildcat specu- 
lation it is important to train pupils to detect the 
spurious from the genuine. 

Under this procedure the teaching is more effec- 
tive, because pupils cover the ground about ONE- 
HALF as fast as formerly, but spend TWICE 
as much time upon a topic. Teachers and pupils 
have learned that the only condition under which 
any topic is really digested is that the mind dwell 
upon it for some time. This means assimilation, 
and assimilation always takes time, and as a re- 
sult there is usually not enough time to cover a 
course of study, thus forcing teachers and pupils 
to select the essentials. 

(4) By using this method of teaching, the mon- 
archial type of school ends and a new democracy 
takes its place. The pupil ceases to look upon 
the laws of the school as impositions from with- 
out but feels a new respect for the value of law 
to the school community in which he lives. By 

48 



utilizing the corporate life of the school as that 
great teacher, Thomas Arnold utilized it, all prob- 
lems in discipline are reduced to a minimum. 

Finally, this method influences to a marked de- 
gree the moral atmosphere of the school and makes 
"the work of the school the ethical instrument for 
character." 



49 



Comments of Pupils 

March 1, 1916, the pupils in one of the seventh 
grades were asked to write their reaction on this 
new way of conducting classroom instruction, and 
the following are some of their statements: 

"It makes us use our minds during the recitation." 

"It makes me study more." 

"It teaches me to think for myself." 

"I get more out of my lesson." 

"We learn to ask questions that have some mean- 
ing." 

"Pupils find out things for themselves." 

"It teaches me to find the most important things." 

"I like to hear the things others have read in other 
books and tell." 

"It helps me to be accurate." 

"It makes me use all the time I have. 

"I learn to use good English." 

"I am glad to hear things that others get out of a 
lesson that I did not get." 

The following comments were written by pu- 
pils of another seventh grade, January 29, 1917 : 

"I like this way very much because it is of value to 
us. We have a chance to recite, give our ideas and 
tell what is right or wrong." 

"I like the method we use in geography, reading, 
and other studies, because it makes me think. The 
one important thing in the lesson stands out more 
than the smaller things. If I know the important 
thing the other things sort of group around it." 

50 



"It makes us think and reason. I cannot criticise 
our new way and I hope they keep it. The old way we 
had kept the bright children busy, while the others 
sat there and naturally had low^ reports. I think 
some children do not understand what they read, but 
get the meaning by our new method." 

"I like this method because everybody gets an equal 
chance. The value of picking out the most important 
thing, to me, is that it makes me think more. It is 
more important to remember the big things than it is 
to remember the small ones." 

"I think the method of picking out the most impor- 
tant thing in the topic in geography has been of value 
to me because it makes me think harder about the 
lesson, and I get some important fact about every 
topic." 

"I like the system we have in geography for several 
reasons. One is that we select the most important 
thing in a topic. It helps to fix it in our minds more 
clearly. Our brain is not made to hold as much as the 
book holds and when we find the most important 
things we think more. I think the fact that it makes 
us think is most important." 

"I like this system of teaching because the lessons 
are more interesting and I learn many more things 
from the questions the other pupils ask, and every 
child gets an equal chance." 

"I think this method of teaching is very good, as it 
makes me think or learn how to study and also to talk 
to the class. It will not be so hard to learn next 
year's work." 

"If you do not know what anything means you have 

51 



to ask questions in order to learn the answer. If a 
pupil is asked a question, he must think very hard to 
answer it. If you do not know what the word means 
you have to look it up in the dictionary or ask the 
class. I think it helps me a great deal." 

"This method of teaching teaches me to think, to 
use my brain, to answer and to ask questions." 

"This method of teaching has taught me to think 
and reason for myself. The children's questions can. 
get at certain parts of the studies that learned people 
do not always think of." 

The following statement was written by a boy 
who had been in the local schools only one week. 

"I like this method of the recitation because it gives 
every pupil a chance to say something. It helps me 
when I am reciting because I would much rather have 
the pupils correct me than the teacher, and it shows 
me my mistakes. I have been in nine different schools 
besides this one and had many different methods, but 
this is the best. I have had poorer deportment than 
here as a result of the teachers' asking and correcting 
everything." 



52 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 



Betts. G. H. 
Colvin, S. S. 



Dewey, John . . . 
Dewey, John . . . 
Earhart, Lida B. 
Earhart, Lida B. 
Eliot, Charles W. 



Hall, J. W.-A.C. 
James, William . 



King, Irving . . . 
McMurry, F. M. 
Mc:Murry. F. M. 



McMurry. C. A. 

McMurry, C. A. 

McMurry, C. A. 
McMurry, F. M.-C 
Moore. E. C. . 
Parker, S. C. 



Pearson, F. B. 
Sadler, M. E. , 



Spencer, Herbert 



..Classroom Method and Manage- 
ment. 

. . An Introduction to High School 
Teaching. 

. .Moral Principles in Education. 

. . Democracy in Education. 

. . Types of Teaching. 

..Teaching Children to Study. 

..The Concrete and Practical in 
Education. 

..The Question as Factor in 
Teaching. 

..Talks to Teachers on Psychol- 
ogy. 

..Education for Social Efficiency. 

..Elementary School Standards. 

. . How to Study and Teaching 
How to Study. 

..Conflicting Principles of Teach- 
ing. 

. . Hand-book of Practice for 
Teachers. 

. .Elements of General Method. 
A.. The Method of the Recitation. 

..What is Education? 

. .Methods of Teaching in High 
Schools. 

..The Vitalized School. 

. .Moral Instruction and Training 
in Schools. 

. . Education. 



53 



Stevens, Romiett The Question as a Measure of 

Efficiency in Instruction. 

Strayer, G. D A Brief Course in the Teaching 

Process. 

Swift, E. J Learning by Doing. 

Thorndike, E. L Principles of Teaching. 

Wilson. H. B.-G. M. . .The Motivation of School Work. 



54 



OUTLINE 

Introduction '^ 

Surveys of School Systems '^ 

Local Survey of Methods of Teaching 9 

Observation of a Geography Class 10 

Observation of a Language Class 12 

Observation of a Class in Arithmetic 14 

Results of a Test in a Hygiene Class 15 

An Examination in Geography — Boston 16 

Correcting Errors Through General Teachers' 

Meetings 1^ 

Correcting Errors Through Building Meetings. .20 
Establishing a Standard for Judging Instruc- 
tion ^^ 

Class Periods Showing Improved Results 30 

Contrasting Two Class Periods 36 

Table I— The Results of Ten Average Class 

Periods ^^ 

Table II— Courtis Tests 45 

Effects of this Work 46 

Comments of Pupils 50 

Bibliography ^^ 



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